Edward Russell-Walling, 50 Management ideas you really need to know (Quercus 2007) at 49, differentiates three items, each of which a general counsel might seize upon. A mission statement articulates “our purpose, why we’re in business”; our values: “our style, what is unchanging and important about the way we work”; and our vision: “our goals, where we want to be in X years.”

As to law departments and mission statements, I have weighed in, and not positively (See my post of March 20, 2008: 18 references cited on mission statements.). My grievance is that mission statements are full of sound and fury … you know the rest.